Selections: Our picks of the week's best events, Nov. 4-10

LEARNING Equally well known for his role as the host of Reading Rainbow as that of Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, LeVar Burton is kind of a big deal for fans of imagination. And it turns out that one of his mentors in the field of children's television was none other than Rollins alumni Fred Rogers – the Mr. Rogers. In this highly anticipated lecture (when was the last time you heard that phrase?), Burton talks about Rogers' impact on his personal and professional life, as well as his current endeavor of transforming Reading Rainbow from a beloved TV show to an app-based reading program for the iPad generation. Take a
look. – Thaddeus McCollum

EVENTS Oh, the Suicide Girls. Thousands of tatted pinup girls post seductive pictures on their website and social media to demonstrate that beauty comes in all different forms. Beauty could be Coralia holding a can of Steel Reserve while scantily clad in an American flag bathing suit. Or perhaps beauty is Waikiki giving a little peek of her cheeks in the middle of a street. They say there's someone for everyone, and that rings especially true with the babes in Suicide Girls. But these smokin' seductresses don't just tease their millions of fans over the Internet. They take the show on the road with a sexy burlesque act that combines ass-shaking Suicide Girls and nerdy Holy Grails like Star Wars, Orange Is the New Black, Donnie Darko and A Clockwork Orange. Luckily for you, they'll be stopping by the Beacham this Friday, so you should probably check it out... you know, for
science. – Marissa Mahoney

Artist Talk: Heidi Neilson

ART Like a teeny-bopper who took Casey Kasem's famous edict to heart, Brooklyn artist Heidi Neilson keeps her feet on the ground but keeps reaching for the stars. Much – though not all – of her work envisions outer space from our vantage point here on Earth, collecting data and creating imaginary strategies for situations like stocking a kitchen on Mars, mapping space debris, and decoding Earth's weather patterns by intercepting transmissions from orbiting NOAA satellites using a quadrifilar helicoidal antenna (whew). Friday at UCF's downtown Center for Emerging Media, Neilson will talk about how Menu for Mars evolved from a supper club that met monthly with guest experts to discuss how the Mars environment would affect colonists' food supplies (as well as their physical, cultural and psychological needs) into a kitchen installation that synthesized those discussions with related research to demonstrate real solutions, which were documented and shared with NASA. And unlike Matt "TheMartian" Damon, they got a lot more ambitious than potatoes for every meal – you may not actually get to taste the dried-milk yogurt, the macaroni and cheese with cricket powder, or the cheddar, Swiss and onion pizza, but there will be pictures. – Jessica Bryce Young

MUSIC Not to be totally stuck in the '90s, but Mary J. Blige has been blistering souls since she emerged in 1992 with What's the 411?, trouncing even the most talented artists of the time on multiple fronts with searing hip-hop soul and stunning vocal chops. Her follow-up, My Life, sealed the deal for longtime fans who have been grooving to her unmatchable and strong delivery on recent offerings The London Sessions and her surprisingly smooth original soundtrack for Think Like a Man Too. – Ashley Belanger

THEATER Orlando's ties with puppets are pretty tight. There's the obvious connection to the Disney and Universal parks, and IBEX Puppetry, owned by Jim Henson's daughter, Heather Henson, is based out of Thornton Park. One of IBEX's puppeteers, Hannah Miller –famous for making a contest-winning video for They Might Be Giants' song "Am I Awake" – was diagnosed with neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis last year, and has been in and out of the hospital. To help raise money for her treatment, puppeteers from the Central Florida Puppet Guild are throwing a puppet slam that features handmade creations in a series of short plays, sketches and performances. Leave the kids at home, though: This puppet show is for adults only. Expect a mix of ribaldry to rival Statler & Waldorf, and poetic pieces that will make you forget that the characters on stage aren't technically alive. – TM

MUSIC It's almost certain you've never before seen a live act like San Diego's Author & Punisher. Tristan Shone, the man behind the industrial doom project, is a practicing robotics engineer with a formal education in sculpture and an urge for apocalyptic sounds. And Author & Punisher – a convergence of music, design and heavy machinery – is the synthesis of all these muses. With an elaborate performance rig of rhythm machines, droning synths and electromechanical masks all devised and fabricated by Shone himself, this is heaviness that's not just sonic but material. When he mans the apparatus, it's like real-life Iron Man shit but with a dark Mad Max heart. It's a one-of-a-kind setup that's sure to be visually stunning and aurally crushing. Show up early to catch the spectral dread of Portland's Muscle and Marrow and the noisy terror of Orlando's Ad Nauseum. – Bao Le-Huu

CIVICS If in the past week you've thought, "The rent is too damn high," Orlando's Fight for 15 March might be for you. For months now, low-wage workers across the country have been campaigning to raise the minimum wage to a $15 hourly wage that you can actually survive on. The fight should come as no surprise in Orlando – the city ranks at the bottom in terms of median wage among the top 50 American metro areas, at $29,781. The march, which is coordinated by Fight for 15 Florida, starts in the late afternoon at the Sunday Farmers Market location at Lake Eola Park, and is being held simultaneously in other parts of
Florida. – Monivette Cordeiro